244 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



the sleeping pens, the fencing of all hog wallows and the cleaning and 

 disinfection of the lots. 



Regarding hog cholera and swine plague, very little can be added to 

 what has for some time been known regarding these two very fatal 

 diseases of swine, except that some advance has been made by the United 

 States department of agriculture in the production of a serum, but this 

 is not yet established on a practical basis. Many so-called hog cholera 

 cures are upon the market, but it is a waste of time and money to fool 

 with them, as they have no virtue whatever. The only sensible way to 

 deal with this very important question is to quarantine, destroy the af- 

 fected and exposed animals and compensate the owner for his loss. 



The increasing sale of quack remedies brought about through the 

 means of mendacious advertisements should be condemned. There is no 

 mystery in connection with drugs and no omniscence in relation to disease. 



The public has acquired a notion that each disease has a specific cure 

 and that something in a bottle or box is necessary and will probably 

 be efficient. 



What may be in the bottle or box is to them quite immaterial so long 

 as some printed assurance is given with it, and this simple faith in adver- 

 tised preparations will probably exist as long as men have little scientific 

 education and blindly act on the suggestions of others no better informed 

 than themselves. 



There is but one way to combat diseases and that is the absolute de- 

 struction of the germs. We may close our eyes to the facts and say that 

 there is nothing in it, but if we persist in being blind we will eventually 

 find ourselves buried under an avalanche of public opinion and hope- 

 lessly lost to the advancement that is constantly being made. 



Through the educating influences of the press the lay mind is being 

 steeped in the thoughts of our best men, and I would urge that more 

 facts be presented along the lines of preventive medicine instead of whole 

 columns being devoted to the discussion of subjects that the trained 

 scientist cannot after years of patient toil solve to his satisfaction, and 

 not until the lay mind is educated to this point shall we see the hazy 

 dawn of a brilliant future for our live stock breeders. 



Responding to an inquiry on the question of the proper modes of 

 prevention of the spread of infectious diseases, the doctor said. 

 ' ' The only remedy is in sanitation. What we advise is to thor- 

 oughly disinfect the places, take out the floors if they can be 

 removed. If it is a cement floor that is all the better. Use some 

 good coal tar disinfectant. About coal tar disinfectants — I am 

 not here to contend or recommend but I have my preferences. If 

 you buy coal tar disinfectants from a reliable firm you are all 

 right, from men who make a business of it and have some fi- 

 nancial backing and some honor. Usually in attempting to dis- 

 infect we remove everything that wnll hold germs. If the wood 

 is rotten or there is a lot of dirt on the floors that should be re- 

 moved. By removing all this material, raking it up and burning 



